Archduke, looks like you got the save but probably got delayed IRL...in case you'd like to see it, here's the EoT save for Turn 129. Prior notes from the T127 save apply.
No worries on getting the comments in, though I am looking forward to and quite curious about the reasoning. The turn is stuck with Japper instead of being at rho21 this evening. Typically I'd be playing the morning turn around 1100 GMT but when Japper's held it I don't usually get the turn before I go to work.
No notifications but I have a great person waiting for me. rho21’s warrior at Xenocrates has also moved out of sight, so that’s something for Mq. Chatelet to track down this turn. The barbs in the north have all moved towards my caravel but can only watch it sail by. rho21 has pulled slightly ahead of me with culture generation and is at 65.2 vs. my 64.7. He’s also spent some gold as he’s down to 248 (from almost 700). His military power only went up about 30, though, so he may have bought some infrastructure. He does have at least one musketman, though, as his base city defense is now 45. Judging by the city defense of Xenocrate (61) there’s definitely one there. If I had to guess I’d say that the warrior was upgraded in that city.
I claim Giovanni de’Medici, earning the boost for Mercantilism. He shows up in Oddfellows which is a good spot for him as the Commercial Hub here does not contain a market or a bank. It does now and my income goes up by 7. A trade route at Maps and Legends has completed. I can renew it to add 2 to this city (along with food and gold) or I can put it elsewhere. I decide to move the trader to Begin – that will bring that city’s production up to the same rate as Find, Welcome and Cant (24-25 per turn).
Up at Harborcoat the navy sails for Geneva. I also start moving the galley from High Speed to Harborcoat. I’ve been pondering Archduke’s comment (“Basically, you need more ships”) and have been giving it some thought. I think that may have to do with the fact that the navy, as it is currently composed, would need two turns to take out Geneva (I could take Perseus in one turn because it has no walls). I don’t know that I can get any more ships out in time for that part of the assault but should be able to get a couple out for the western campaign. I could also build a Harbor at Find in relatively short order by chopping the forest to complete the musketman and using the overflow to complete half of the district. I’ll wait for his comments but I also have a couple of things to look at in a test scenario. Archduke, please don’t take this as rushing your comments along – I saw you’re in Italy for the next several days, hopefully it’s some R&R instead of work.
Up in the north I’ve found…
Guess he’s expecting visitors in this direction. He’ll probably attack the horseman next turn. I’ll have to try to move into a position where if he finishes the job my crossbowman can shoot at him. I think I’ll also hold my caravel back for the time being. The less time he has to find out about my naval aggression the better.
I slowly advance Mq. Chatelet to see what I can see:
Good to know where he’s set up. Wonder how long he let’s me wander around on the front lines….
rho21 has opted not to attack the horseman and based upon his available movement seems to have turned around. I think I’ll carefully look around up here to see what else is going on. His milpower spiked to 748 without much gold expenditure. Either it’s a one turn delay in the reporting by the GUI or he’s built some units. Mq. Chatelet is back in Near.
Navy first. Frigate and caravel advance. Northern frigate shoots at and almost kills a swordsman (bad damage roll, the combat panel said it should have died). Looks like it has one hit point left – the southern Frigate can bat clean-up on this one. The northern caravel stays put. The horseman advances a bit and finds no galley. For the last part of my naval plan How stops the University build with two turns left and starts a siege tower. I did some testing last night and determined that an embarked siege tower allows a frigate to do typical damage to the walls (50% at full CS) and to the city (100% at full CS). With an embarked siege tower adjacent to a city my pocket navy can execute a one turn take-down of any city under a garrison strength in the low 50’s. That’ll delay the invasion by a few turns as it’ll be three turns to build and four turns to embark but I think it’s worth the attempt. The build time would go to four turns if the amenity robot puts How back on content status instead of happy (it was content last turn, happy this turn).
Begin starts a trade route to Cant. Builder in the south mines a hill getting High Speed some much-needed production. Settler and builder at Welcome begin moving northwards once more. Given the distribution of boosts available (two in the Renaissance and seven in the Industrial) I decide to use Mq. Chatelet’s ability to get some boosts….survey says: Printing, Scientific Theory and Ballistics. Eh, could have done better but Printing is completed. Also means I don’t have to build a military engineer.
The barbarian archer showed up and shot my northern Frigate for 13 damage. All of the barbarian units have come over to the west coast for target practice to see the Aztec navy sail by.
Southern frigate moves up and kills the archer, northern one shoots at the musketman. In the south my knight arrived next to the camp last turn and attacks the spearman guarding it. It’ll take the camp next turn. In other naval action my horseman locates the Greek galley on its first move, sitting about 3 hexes west of Perseus. Its position is such that if it remains there I’ll have to kill it on the way by. The good news is that any one of my navy can one-shot the unit with the +6 CS from luxurires. I move up my lead caravel far enough from the barbarians so that I can set it to alert status.
Everything else is quiet. The musketman at Welcome will be complete in three turns; that’ll be the unit to clear the northern camp since I don’t have anything else up here right now.
In looking around I notice that rho21 has built Medieval Walls at Xenocrates. Interesting, and will make it a bit more difficult to crack.
In looking around the map and at the diplomatic situation in Geneva I think destroying the city is going to do a number of a bunch of people. In addition to rho21 getting 28-30 from the city-state, Japper’s got six Campus districts under construction or completed. Here’s the completed one at Waffles:
Japper’s in Oligarchy so I don’t know if he’s running Natural Philosophy but that science yield says he is. That Campus would go to zero without Geneva. He’s got population to support about 30 per turn (assuming his capital is around 10 pop), so he’d lose about half his science if Geneva is razed. Suffice it to say that Geneva is the key to this game right now. It’s loss would be devastating for Japper and a serious but not fatal blow to rho21. It needs to die.
Metal Casting completes. I start Astronomy, the boost for that will be done in three turns. Kongo has entered the Renaissance Era.
In the north the frigates combine to take out the musketman while the caravel advances around the peninsula. The northern Frigate has earned a promotion and I’ll move 4 hexes and take Bombardment next turn. The other frigate can do mop-up duty on the spearman and scout to earn its Bombardment promotion and then I’ll be all set for Geneva. Down at the southern barbarian camp a crossbowman has shown up. I clear the camp first to prevent more units from spawning and will deal with the crossbow (or run from it) next turn.
Settler and builders in the area move into position. Next turn I’ll found Green Grow the Rushes and plant and charge its Aqueduct. Five charges will go into the Aqueduct, one will farm a rice. If I get another builder up here I’ll farm triangle the rices and a grasslands.
Down at Find I’ve got to make a decision next turn. The musketman next turn will be at 235/240. A chop into the musket gets me 152, of which 147 will be overflow. That almost completes a discounted district (current cost 161, IZ, Ent Complex and Theater District) and would leave me five turns from a non-discounted district. Also just noticed that a Bank currently costs more than a district. . A Harbor on the coast would cost 140 but get me a high-production city to produce a navy and 2 per turn extra income and gives me the ability to get a few more ships out if I need them. Campus adjacency is +1 no matter where I put it. Don’t need another Encampment. Theater square gets no adjacency but I’m putting one in at Maps once the Campus is done (Oh wait, it just completed). I’ll have to ponder some more. I suppose I could just chop into a second musket as well, but that seems like a waste of a good chop.
Actually, in looking at the situation I decide that the builder needs to go up to Maps to chop the forest that the Theater District would be going into. I’ll build a Library at Maps then once that’s complete I’ll chop the forest into the Theater District. The builder at Horses will mine a hill then head up to Find for the chop. I’ll work on a crossbow at Find while the builder is en route.
Another intriguing possibility – Terracotta Army at Welcome. It’d take 16 turns to build but get all my units a promotion. While my army isn’t as big as Sulla’s in PBEM 7 we all saw the effect that had.
In other build news, Oddfellows has completed its walls. I start a crossbowman there.
(June 2nd, 2018, 21:26)Chevalier Mal Fet Wrote: The Terracotta Army is a fantastic wonder. I'm kind of surprised we never saw it before PBEM7, but it was decisive in that game.
What got me thinking about it was the fact that it was used in PBEM 7 and that I've got the largest army in terms of number of units. I do have a number of unpromoted units (knights, crossbows plus units in the queue) and even some of the level 2 promotions would be well worth it.
I think we never saw it previously is because most games were in full-on slaughter mode by the time building it because feasible.
Typical opening to the save. Barbarian activity in the north and south, no other notifications. In the south the scout has gone full rage and has redlined itself. My concern is the crossbow, so I attack it. Should be able to kill it next turn though I may be redlined in the process. Up north there’s a 1HP sword and an undamaged sword. I kill the undamaged one now and will use the frigates on the spearman next turn to get the level 1 frigate its promotion. I advance the caravels up as they have a rendevouz – the siege tower in How is complete and will embark on the north short in four turns. A mine goes in at Horses and the some builders reposition.
High Speed has completed its walls, I start a crossbow for city defense. How restarts the University build. Welcome restarts its trade route to Begin. Find and Welcome stop their musket builds at 1 turn to completion and start crossbows.
The big news is in the northwest. I found Green Grow the Rushes on the edge of Pantanal.
The city starts working the rice and immediately puts down an Aqueduct which a builder charges. I then switch over to a Granary. This city exists for the sole purpose of building population. The two rice tiles and abundance of grasslands will make city growth fast and the available culture from the Pantanal will also help out quite a bit.
to this city (along with food and gold) or I can put it elsewhere. I decide to move the trader to Begin – that will bring that city’s production up to the same rate as Find, Welcome and Cant (24-25 per turn). 
from the city-state, Japper’s got six Campus districts under construction or completed. Here’s the completed one at Waffles:
. A Harbor on the coast would cost 140
but get me a high-production city to produce a navy and 2
